Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) Shares Acquired by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Avista Co. (NYSE:AVA) by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 420,527 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 34,829 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.53% of Avista worth $16,295,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Algert Global LLC raised its holdings in Avista by 202.2% during the third quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 57,617 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,233,000 after purchasing an additional 38,550 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Avista by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,828,230 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $70,857,000 after purchasing an additional 27,328 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Avista during the second quarter worth $5,638,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its holdings in Avista by 0.4% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 3,551,460 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $122,916,000 after purchasing an additional 13,445 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. raised its holdings in Avista by 30.7% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 176,459 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,838,000 after purchasing an additional 41,431 shares during the last quarter. 85.24% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AVA has been the subject of several research reports. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Avista in a report on Monday, December 9th. They set a “hold” rating and a $40.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America began coverage on Avista in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $37.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.75.

Avista Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AVA opened at $36.53 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $2.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.55, a P/E/G ratio of 4.13 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. Avista Co. has a 52 week low of $31.91 and a 52 week high of $39.99. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.34.

Avista (NYSE:AVA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $383.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $389.29 million. Avista had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 10.24%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.19 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Avista Co. will post 2.3 EPS for the current year.

Avista Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 13th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 26th were given a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, November 26th. Avista’s dividend payout ratio is currently 75.70%.

Avista Profile

Avista Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an electric and natural gas utility company. It operates in two segments, Avista Utilities and AEL&P. The Avista Utilities segment provides electric distribution and transmission, and natural gas distribution services in parts of eastern Washington and northern Idaho; and natural gas distribution services in parts of northeastern and southwestern Oregon, as well as generates electricity in Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and Montana.